Amnesia
by HeroesLover77
Summary: A/U. Reid gets amnesia, after a traumatic run-in with an UNSUB. He forgets who he is, and essentially, becomes a child again. It's up to the team to help him remember, and to look after him. But then he starts remembering again... R/R Plz!
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1 -

"We're back." Prentiss said. She and JJ had just gone across the street to get coffee for everyone. They all knew from experience that the stuff served in the hospital cafeteria didn't taste all that great.

"Any news?" She asked.

"Not yet." Morgan sighed, as JJ handed him a cup.

The team had been sitting in the ER waiting room for almost three hours.

It had been a week since they last heard from him, and then he was found beaten and unconscious by the side of a country road. They barely got a chance to see him before doctors whisked him away, behind the swinging ER doors. What they did see, horrified them. He was covered in blood. They had no leads. The UNSUB was a totally random person, it seemed.

Just then, a man dressed in green scrubs emerged from behind those doors. Then he said,

"Family of Spencer Reid?"

The team jumped to their feet. They rushed up to the doctor. Gideon didn't even bother to point out that his name was Dr. Spencer Reid.

"How is he?" Hotch asked.

"He has a few broken bones, a lot of cuts, some which required stitches. He's badly malnourished, and dehydrated, as well. We have him on IV. We'll have to keep him a few days, but he should be fine. Physically. We are worried about something else, though. You see, when he woke up --"

"He's awake!?" Morgan interrupted.

"Can we see him?" Garcia wanted to know.

"There's something else I need to talk to you about." The doctor continued. "When Spencer woke up a few minutes ago, he was very confused. He didn't know what happened, or where he was. He didn't even remember what his name was. A trauma like what he's had can have this effect on people. Right now, I'm afraid he has severe amnesia. He probably won't remember any of you at first."

"But he will eventually?" Prentiss confirmed.

"I doubt that this will be permanent. But it will take time. You'll have to help him remember. If things go well, he should be back to normal in about a week, maybe two. "

Everyone was relieved to hear this.

"However in his current state, Spencer will need someone to be with him at all times. He'll need that sense of security. Plus, his mind is more like a child's right now. Like a 6 year old. He's going to be very confused." The doctor explained. "Do his parents live close?"

The team exchanged sad looks, shaking their heads. Even if they did, they wouldn't be the most dependable resources. Poor Reid.

"Well, someone will need to take care of him. I'm hoping we can let him go day after tomorrow."

"We'll figure something out. Thank you doctor." Hotch said.

"You're welcome. I'll go check on him, and if he's ready for visitors, I'll come and get you." And with that, he disappeared behind the doors once more.

The team looked at each other in silence.

"So," Morgan said after a second. "Who's going to take care of him?"

"I'll do it." Hotch said.

His team looked at him, a bit taken back the quick answer. He didn't seem like the type who would jump at the chance to stay home and baby-sit a 25 year old FBI agent who didn't know his own name.

"But we need you in the field. We need everyone in the field." JJ said.

"I'll watch him." Garcia offered. "I can keep him in my office, and he can keep busy reading the dictionary, or something."

"We can't risk letting him see any of the crime scene pictures, or hearing about the case. If his mind really is that delicate right now, seeing something like that will stress him out, almost like another mini trauma. It will slow down his recovery." Gideon replied.

"Why don't we just take turns. That way he can get used to all of us. I'll go one day, spend the night, Hotch can go the next day, and then Morgan…" JJ suggested.

"That sounds reasonable. What about when we go on assignments?" Hotch asked.

"Whoever stays behind can video conference with the rest of the team. " Gideon said.

"Alright it's agreed." Morgan said. "I'll stay with him the first night."

"I'll stay too. Reid's a handful when he's himself. I can't imagine him as a 6 year old." Garcia added.

The team shared a laugh, at the first light hearted moment since Reid's disappearance. They were exhausted, as it was actually 2 in the morning, and of course, extremely relieved.

The doctor came back a few minutes later.

"He's asleep right now." He informed them. "If you come back tomorrow morning, he'll be in a better state to talk."

"I'll stay here tonight. Someone should be there when he wakes up. Go home, get a goodnight's sleep, you guys." Hotch said. He turned before Morgan could object, and went to talk to the receptionist about having a cot sent to Reid's room. None of them could wait to have a peaceful rest, after being so worried.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two -**

**Reid's POV**

**I opened my eyes. Where was I? The ceiling was white, the walls were the same. I blinked a few times, my eyes adjusting to the bright lights. I turned my head, and saw that I was attached to some sort of machine that kept beeping. I didn't like it at all. I wished it would stop.**

**I tried to sit up, but every move I made hurt me. I didn't understand why. My arm was in a cast, and my chest hurt a lot, even when all I was doing was breathing. I was wearing a blue hospital gown. I looked outside. The sun was coming up, and the sky was a fiery red. It was beautiful.**

**Just then, the door opened. I jumped, and drew away from the stranger who had entered the room. Who was this man? What did he want? I found myself wondering why my first reaction to this person was fear.**

"**Good, you're awake. How are you feeling?" The man asked. He had some files in his hand, and was looking through them. He looked up. I shrugged.**

"**I'm Doctor Bates. Do you remember me from last night?" **

**I shook my head. This guy seemed okay. I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. **

"**That's alright. I'm here to help you get better. I have a few questions to ask, okay?"**

**I didn't actually say that that was okay, but he went right ahead and asked them anyways.**

"**What colour is my shirt?" He asked. **

**I frowned. What kind of dumb game was this? It was green, of course. And his coat was white. What did he think I was, stupid?**

"**It's green." I answered, humouring him.**

"**Great." The doctor replied, and he scribbled something down on his paper. **

"**Can you please count to ten for me?" **

**I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. Of course I could. **

"**1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. There." I smiled smugly at him. I was answering all these questions without any trouble at all.**

"**Perfect, thank you. And one last one. Do you know what your name is?"**

**I opened my mouth to answer, but found myself just gaping. I didn't know. It was the weirdest thing, not knowing what should be the most basic fact about myself.**

"**What about where you live? Or where you were born? Do you remember?" **

**I stared at him. I gave a slight shake of my head. I was somewhat worried that I'd made him angry, or disappointed that I couldn't answer the question. I was afraid he was going to hurt me. I couldn't explain it, but I felt tears forming in my eyes.**

"**I- I'm sorry. I'm sorry." I told him, sniffing, and hanging my head, ashamed.**

"**It's not your fault. You were in… an accident, of sorts. Your name is Spencer Reid. And I have some people here who know you. You might not remember them, and that's okay too. But they are your friends. You don't have to be afraid of them. They're going to take care of you for the next little while. Would you like you meet them?" **

**I nodded. I didn't want the doctor to hate me. I didn't want to get in trouble. Something inside told me that that was how I got hurt. I didn't really believe that it was an accident either.**

**The doctor left and returned with three men and a lady. I didn't know them. They kind of scared me, to be honest. One of them was big, and sort of looked mad. Another, who had darker skin, seemed really upset about something. The third had almost a blank expression, but his eyes were sad. The woman looked pretty. I liked her, I decided. **

"**Reid… do you remember us?" The darker-skinned guy asked.**

"**Uhm… yes?" I tried. The people turned to the doctor, who just shook his head.**

"**That's okay." Said the one who looked mad. "My name is Aaron Hotchner. This is Derek Morgan, and Jason Gideon. This is Penelope Garcia. We work with you." **

**I looked them over. Aaron, Jason, Derek and Penelope. They all seemed a little less scary now that they had names. But only a little bit.**

"**My name's Spencer." I informed Derek. He had called me Reid.**

"**We know." Jason answered, nodding slowly. **

"**Then why did he call me Reid?" I asked. This earned me a curious look. I wished I hadn't said it, but I thought it was a valid question. **

**I looked up at the doctor, who was observing from the corner of the room. It was kind of awkward, these four strangers checking me out, no one saying anything. Finally, the one named Aaron spoke.**

"**Spencer, you're going to come out of the hospital tomorrow. And when that happens, you're going to go and stay with Mor… Derek and Penelope for a while. Is that okay?" **

"**Yeah." I answered. But my voice wavered. I didn't want to leave this room. It was the only room I knew. And these people were strangers.**

"**I'm not supposed to go with strangers." I thought out loud. **

**Derek glanced at Aaron. Penelope smiled at me sadly, and took my hand. At first, I wanted her to back off, but after a second, I squeezed her hand. She ran the back of her hand over my cheek. I decided I liked Penelope. She was pretty, and the others still scared me a little. **

"**But we aren't strangers, luv. You're my boy genius. I've known you for years. " She told me. **

**I decided that I'd go wherever they wanted if Penelope was going too. **


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three-

Reid spent the rest of that day colouring. He decided that that was what he liked doing best. He drew a picture of the people who came to visit him. Then he slept for a long time. It still hurt whenever he moved. At least the medicine was helping.

Morgan, Hotch and Garcia came back again the next day. After their first encounter with Reid, everyone was feeling a bit nervous about how it was all going to play out. Reid was the most nervous.

That morning, when the doctor came in and said he could go home today, Reid got butterflies in his stomach. He had been in the middle of eating breakfast, but when he heard this news, he put the cover over the tray. He wasn't hungry any more.

They arrived an hour later. They had stopped by Reid's apartment, and picked up some clothes for him to change into, before coming.

"Hey, Reid-- Spencer." Morgan said. For some reason, the new Reid didn't like to be called by his last name.

"Hi." Reid replied, sounding very unsure. He still didn't know how he felt about the two strange men that kept talking to him.

Morgan handed him his clothes.

"You get to go home today, remember?" Hotch told him.

"I remember." Reid said. He climbed out of bed and took the clothes into the bathroom. He was in there for probably ten minutes. His team mates waited in his room patiently. Then Morgan knocked on the door.

"Is everything okay in there, Spencer?" He asked.

To be honest, Reid was having a difficult time get dressed. He had his pants on, but his shirt buttons were giving him a bit of trouble.

"I'm okay. It's just this shirt…" He looked at himself in the mirror. He had definitely done something wrong. His shirt was very lopsided in the front. It was on, though, so he decided that that was good enough. He opened the door and walked back out.

Morgan tried not to laugh at the sight of his young friend, but he couldn't help it. He covered his mouth with his hand. Hotch nudged him, warningly. The doctor was there, too. He smiled.

"Here, sweetheart, let me help you with that." Garcia offered. Reid glared at Morgan. Why was he laughing? Buttoning up a shirt was a hard job. He sat on the bed, and let Garcia fix his shirt. He kissed him on the forehead when she was done.

"There are a few forms you'll need to fill out." The doctor said. "And you'll need to pick up his medication before you go. Here's the prescription." He handed the paper to Hotch.

"It was nice to meet you, Spencer. I'll see you when you come back for you check up." The doctor stuck out his hand.

Reid looked at him incredulously . Then he remembered that you were supposed to shake a person's hand when they go somewhere. He shook the doctors hand. Then he was left in the room with his three 'friends'.

"Are you ready?" Morgan asked.

Reid looked around the room. He didn't have any other things. So he grabbed the pictures he'd drawn and folded them, putting them in his pocket.

"What are those?" Morgan wanted to know.

"Just some pictures I drew." Reid said, and then, he walked past the FBI agents, and out of his room. He told himself to be brave. This was a scary thing. Hotch, Morgan and Garcia followed.

The hospital outside his room was louder. There were people talking and a loud voice that came from seemingly the ceiling, telling people, mostly doctors, to go to different rooms.

They took the elevator, and went to the bottom floor. That was where the parking lot was. Just after they stepped off the elevator, someone burst through the ER doors. There were a bunch of doctors surrounding someone on a bed on wheels. They were talking fast and loud. The person had blood on them. There was a lady rushing behind, crying really hard.

Reid stared and stared.

Hotch saw what he was looking at, and took his arm.

"Come on, Spencer. The car's this way."

"Why was that man covered in blood?" He asked. Morgan just frowned.

"The doctors said he had a severed artery. Is he going to die?" He asked. No one answered his questions. It was frustrating.

They went outside. It was cold, and the parking lot was full of cars.

"This one is mine. This is Derek's." Hotch said, as they walked across the parking lot. They stopped at two black cars, parked beside each other. . They looked very official.

"Wow." Reid said, running his finders over the shiny exterior of Hotch's car.

"I'm going to go to work now, Spencer. Derek and Penelope are going to take you back to your house, and they're going to stay with you. Okay?" Reid nodded. Then Hotch said goodbye and got in his car. Morgan held the back door open.

"Jump in." He instructed. Reid glanced back at the hospital. He was still unsure about these people. He'd only known them for a day. And how did he know if they were really his friends? Still, he didn't have much of a choice. So, he reluctantly got in the back seat. Morgan closed the door. He and Garcia sat upfront. Morgan started the engine.

"Spencer, you have to put your seat belt on." He said, looking in the rear view mirror.

"Oh yeah." Reid said. He remembered once Morgan told him. He buckled himself in place, and Morgan pulled out of the parking space. Garcia turned and smiled at him, and Reid felt reassured. Then, something caught his eye. It was something attached to Morgan's side. His coat was covering most of it, but Reid thought it looked like a gun.

"Something wrong?" Morgan asked, seeing Reid's confused and anxious expression. Reid glanced up quickly.

"No." He answered. He didn't want to risk getting shot. He'd just pretend he hadn't seen that. Morgan shrugged, and kept driving. Reid relaxed a bit. If they were going to hurt him, they would've done it already, right? He looked out the window, and stayed pretty much quiet for the rest of the ride.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four -

Reid's POV

The car stopped.

"We're here." Derek said, unbuckling his seat belt. I did the same. Where was 'here' exactly? Penelope seemed to read my mind.

"This is your apartment building." She told me.

Huh. I got out of the backseat and looked up at the building. It was pretty big. Did I own all of it?

"Come on. This way." Derek said. He and Penelope were already almost at the door. I quickly caught up. Derek started looking through a ring of keys. While he was looking, I spotted something on the wall.

"What's this?" I asked, and I started pressing all the buttons. It was fun.

"Don't...." Derek started. There was a ringing sound. Suddenly, an angry voice came from the box.

"Who is it? It's 7:30 in the morning! I was sleeping!" The person yelled. I stepped back, startled. Derek came over and spoke back into the speaker.

"I apologize sir. Wrong room number." He glanced at me, disapprovingly. "Reid….Spencer, maybe you should ask Penelope or me first before you touch stuff, okay?"

I nodded, and then apologized. Derek found the key and opened the door. We went inside. After riding the elevator to the third floor (I wished I lived higher up), Derek led the way to my room.

"Welcome home, kid." He smiled, and opened my door.

I walked into my apartment, and took a look around. It was bigger than the hospital room. There was a kitchen, and a living room, and two bedrooms and a bathroom. I liked it. I sat down on the couch. Penelope took her bags into one of the bedrooms, and Derek tossed his on the couch next to me.

"So… all this stuff is mine?" I asked.

"Yep." He replied, as he sat in an arm chair across from me. Then, he took a picture from the coffee table and threw it to me. It landed in my lap. The picture was of seven people sitting around a table, holding up their glasses, in a toast.

"That's our team." Derek told me. I recognised some of the people from when they came to the hospital. There were only a couple I hadn't seen before.

There was another picture on the wall. There was an older lady sitting next to me, when I was a little bit younger.

"Who's that?" I asked, pointing up, above my head. Penelope walked back into the room at this point. She and Derek looked at each other.

"That's your mum." Derek told me.

"Where is she?" I wanted to know.

"She… she doesn't live here. She lives far away." Penelope explained.

I frowned. If she was my mom, how come she didn't come to see me when I was in the hospital?

Penelope walked over and sat down right on Derek's lap. He grinned, and didn't seem to mind.

"So, what do we do now?" I asked.

"Whatever you want to." Penelope said.

I looked around the room again. There wasn't much to do at my house, it seemed. I used the remote to turn on the TV. It wasn't much better than the tiny one at the hospital. The picture was all snowy, too. I started hitting the remote against the side of the couch.

"Why isn't it working?" I demanded.

Derek looked at me funny.

"You probably haven't paid your cable bill in a while. You aren't really one to watch TV that much. " He said.

I stopped and thought about this. These people were my friends, weren't they? They knew me better than I did right now.

"What do I usually do?" I asked.

"Well," Derek began. "Usually, you'd read some sort of 2000 page book. Or study government reports."

"Or talk about things that no one understands." Penelope added. "And if you did watch TV, it would be star trek, and that's it." They both smiled at me.

"Huh." I thought out loud. "I kind of sound like a nerd." I told them. They laughed, which made me happy. I laughed too.

"Here, try this." Penelope got off of Derek and went over to a book case. She chose a random, thick book, and brought it over to me.

"What is it?" I asked.

"It's… some book about chemistry. You'll enjoy it." She promised. I opened it to a random page near the middle. The writing was tiny. I read the first few sentences. I looked at a diagram of an atom.

"Do you understand it?" Derek asked. I nodded. The two of them looked relieved. It wasn't a lie, either. I actually did understand it. But what I didn't understand, was why it would be of interest to me. It seemed exceedingly boring.

"I don't really feel like reading right now." I said, and I closed the book. "Can we go out somewhere?"

My two friends looked taken back. "Uh, sure. I guess so. Where do you want to go?" Derek asked.

I thought for a second. Then I answered, "The movie theatre."

"Okay." The two of them replied after a second. I jumped up and ran to open the door.

"Hold on a second!" Derek called. I stopped. "It's like zero degrees out there. You have to put this on." He handed me a coat. I quickly slipped into it. Then, we headed out. On our way downstairs, I heard Derek say to Penelope, "I never thought I'd be so concerned to see Reid want to do something normal people do."

Once again, I was worried that I wasn't acting the way "Reid" usually did. But I couldn't stand the thought of sitting around all day reading chemistry text books. That wasn't what I liked doing, so why should I have to do it. To me, the old "Reid" sounded boring…


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five -

Morgan's POV

That kid is driving me crazy. If it wasn't enough that he kept talking the whole time we were driving to the theatre, you should've seen the movie he picked. It was some Disney movie about talking animals who have to save the world, or something like that. And I had thought the doctor was exaggerating when he said that Reid's mind was like a 6 year olds. Not even a 6 year old Reid, which is equivalent to like a 16 year old normal kid. Reid was actually acting like a regular 6 year old would. He was still a genius. But he sure wasn't acting like one.

"That was soooo good!" Reid stated cheerfully, as we walked out of the theatre.

"Oh yeah. Really good." I agreed sarcastically, squinting in the bright sunlight. I leaned over to Garcia.

"Longest 90 minutes of my life." I muttered under my breath. She rolled her eyes.

"I thought it was cute." Garcia argued. She smiled at Reid, who smiled back.

I sighed. This was going to be a long day.

Since we'd eaten popcorn at the movie, none of us were hungry for lunch. Garcia got a call from Hotch, who informed us that the team had taken a local case so they wouldn't need to leave the state. However he needed Garcia to run something through VICAP.

I dropped her off at work.

"I can get a ride with someone else after I'm finished." She said, as she got out of the passenger seat.

"Alright, I'll see you back at Reid's apartment." I said, waving as she went up to the front doors. Reid watched her go. He seemed kind of uncomfortable being in the car alone with me.

"You know, Reid… I mean Spencer."

"You can call me Reid if you want." The kid said. I was relieved to hear this. I hadn't called Reid 'Spencer' since I'd first met him a few years earlier.

"Reid, you can sit up in the front if you want." I told him.

"No thank you. I'm good back here." He replied. That confirmed my suspicions. My best friend was terrified of me.

I sighed and started the car again. We started driving home. He was much less talkative now. That bothered me a little bit. So I tried to incur conversation.

"So, Reid. You must have a lot of questions. You know, about yourself? What do you want to know? I'm your best friend. I know pretty much everything about you."

Reid sat there for a second, thinking.

"How old am I?" He asked. I was glad he started with an easy one.

"You're almost 26." I told him. He nodded.

"That's pretty old." He commented softly. I smirked. I'm sure the old Reid spent his whole childhood wishing he was older than he was. It couldn't have been easy graduating from high school at 12 years old.

"What else?" I prompted. I wanted him to remember so badly.

"What do I do?" He asked after a second.

"Huh?" I asked.

"I mean my job. I'm 25. I must have a job, right?"

I looked at him in the mirror. He was looking back at me inquisitively.

"Uh, yeah. You have a job." I replied lamely.

He waited patiently for me to explain. I didn't exactly want to go into details about what is included in our job description.

"You know what, I think I'm going to let Hotch field that one."

"Who's Hotch?"

"Aaron, from the hospital. We call him Hotch."

"Oh." Reid answered. "What's his job?"

"Look, we're home!" I said, parking the car, and quickly changing the topic.

When we were back inside, I was relieved to find that Reid had pretty much dropped the whole job thing. Instead, he was preoccupied with whatever was in his bedroom closet. He kept lots of old science projects and models or science-y things. He asked me what some of the most basic things were, and didn't ask about some of the things that I would've have been able to explain anyways.

I wasn't worried about him finding any stuff from his old cases, because Gideon had come by the night he was admitted, and taken every BAU related document from his apartment, and temporarily relocated them.

So, while Reid sat on his bed, making up his own version of chess, I went back into the living room, and lay on the couch. I was exhausted. I didn't mean to fall asleep, it just sort of…happened. The kid would be okay on his own for a little bit anyways, right? I could just rest my eyes, everything would be fine….

Yeah right.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer - Guess I should've done one of these at the start, eh? Oh well. Here it is. I own nothing. **

**Chapter 6 -**

**Reid walked into the living room. He was going to tell Morgan that he was hungry, but he saw that his new friend was asleep. So, he decided that he could just make himself something to eat. And right now, he felt like… pancakes. **

**So, Reid went into the kitchen, and opened the fridge. He grabbed some eggs, milk, oil, oranges and butter and put them in a bowl. He didn't actually know exactly what pancakes were made of, so he decided to improvise. He added some sour cream and about a table spoon of salt. Then he mixed it all together and filled the frying pan with the batter, and set the stove on high. The he waited…**

**Morgan felt himself being shaken awake. He grunted in response, but who ever was there was very persistent. **

"**What is it?" He muttered, sitting up. Suddenly he was fully alert. The fire alarm was going, and the whole apartment smelled like smoke. Reid was standing next to the couch, holding his arm. **

"**What happened?" Morgan shouted, over the blaring alarm. **

"**I was trying to make pancakes…" Reid started. He bit his lower lip. Morgan instructed Reid to stay there, then jumped up and sprinted into the kitchen. Whatever was in the frying pan was black and on fire. Flames danced almost to the ceiling. Morgan coughed and started checking the cupboards for a fire extinguisher. He found one and squeezed the handle. White foam spattered all over the oven. The fire was out.**

**When Morgan walked back into the living room, Reid was opening the window. It was dark outside. Reid was still holding his arm.**

"**What happened in there?" Morgan demanded, taking a deep breath after the scare.**

"**Like I said before. I wanted pancakes. It was supper time, and I was hungry. So I put some stuff in a bowl --" Morgan didn't want to know what that 'stuff' was. From the weird smell, he guessed it wasn't your traditional pancake ingredients. **

"**-- and then I put it on the stove. But it was taking a long time, and they didn't look like pancakes. Soooo, I just took a match box from on top of the fridge, and I lit a match and dropped it in."**

**Morgan stared at the young man in front of him in disbelief. Had he just heard that?**

"**You lit a match, and dropped it in." He confirmed. Reid nodded, casually. **

"**What's 43x203?"**

**Reid promptly answered,**

"**8729." **

**Morgan understood now. But it was hard to believe. Reid was still a genius; his brain still worked at a much faster rate than most people. But his sense of what was right and wrong, what was safe and dangerous had been altered. Then Morgan realised that Reid was still holding his arm. **

"**What's with your arm?" He asked. Reid took his hand away.**

"**I didn't pull it away fast enough when the pancake caught on fire. It hurts." Morgan gasped. His arm had a pretty bad burn on it. **

"**Come here." Morgan turned on the tap and stuck Reid's arm under it. The younger agent flinched as the water hit his skin. Just then, Garcia opened the front door. **

"**I'm…" She stopped. The oven was covered in foam, and Reid and Morgan were standing at the sink. They looked at her. Then Reid grinned.**

"**Penelope! I made pancakes! Well, I tried. It didn't work that good…" **

"**You let him make PANCAKES!?!" She shouted at Morgan. Then she hit him with her purse.**

"**Ow!" Morgan protested. "It wasn't my fault, okay? I was sleeping, and then -"**

"**You were SLEEPING!?!" She yelled and hit him again. "Why weren't you watching him?"**

"**Are you alright, Spencer?" Garcia asked, changing her tone immediately. **

**Reid nodded. "I'm okay now. How was work?" **

"**It was good." She answered.**

"**What do you do?" **

**Morgan didn't know why Reid cared so much about what they did.**

"**I work with computers." Garcia replied. And it was true.**

"**How come your job isn't secret?" He asked. Morgan rolled his eyes. **

"**How about we get something to eat, huh?" He suggested. He glanced at Garcia, who seemed a bit confused. It was almost 8 o'clock in the evening, no one was in the mood to cook. Still, they needed food, so Morgan opted they go to a restaurant. He put some lotion and a bandage on Reid's arm. Then they left. **

"**Where are we going?" Reid asked.**

"**To get food." Morgan said.**

"**I know that. But where?" Reid wanted to know.**

**Morgan shrugged, and he told Garcia she could choose. He had a feeling she hadn't completely forgiven him for the whole pancake/sleeping thing. So Garcia told him it was his treat, and then chose the fanciest, most expensive restaurant. **

**Unfortunately, how was Reid to know exactly the right way to act in such a place? **

**First he said that he didn't like anything they had, and asked for pancakes, since he never got them earlier. Then he told the waiter he had a funny accent. It was French. Then, he absolutely refused to take his prescribed medication, which caused quite a scene, with Morgan practically trying to force it down his throat. They were asked to leave once Reid broke the expensive vase on the table. **

**So the group settled for McDonalds instead. It had certainly been a long day. Once they got back to Reid's apartment, no one even had time to think before they collapsed in their beds, and fell asleep. **


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven -**

**Reid's POV**

**I was up early the next morning. Derek and Penelope were still sleeping. So I tried to be very quiet. I was hungry, but after last night, I decided that cooking wasn't my forte. So instead, I discovered a box of cereal and took it into the living room. Derek was sleeping on the couch. I looked at him. He was breathing loudly, and his face was twisted in a worried way. I wondered what he was dreaming about. **

**I scanned my video shelf. Most of what I had were documentaries on boring types of things. I saw one that was labelled "Star Trek", and decided to give it a try. After all, Penelope had pointed out before that it was all I used to watch. Maybe watching it would jog my memory. I popped it in the player.**

**The theme music played really loud, so I quickly went to turn it down before Derek woke up. Too late.**

"**What are you doing?" He asked. "It's, like, 6 in the morning." **

**I turned to see him sitting up, rubbing his eyes. I was worried he'd be mad, but his attitude changed once he saw what was on the TV.**

"**You're watching Star Trek!" He exclaimed. I nodded. For once, it seemed, I had done something right.**

*** * * * * * ***

**That morning, while Derek and Penelope got ready for work, I sat there, eating cereal and watching all of the Star Trek videos. They were hilarious! The people looked and dressed really weird, and the plot lines were interesting. At least the old Reid had good taste when it came to television. **

"**Hotch should be here any minute." Morgan said. I didn't look away from the screen. This episode was really intense. There was a knock a the door, and someone went to answer it. There was talking, and then Derek and Penelope called goodbye to me. I yelled goodbye back, and continued to pay attention to the show. **

**I could hear Hotch take his stuff into the other room. He stayed in the there a while. I assumed he was sorting out his stuff. I heard him talking on the phone. Then he came in and stood behind me.**

"**How long have you been watching this?" He asked.**

**I shrugged. "Three hours, maybe." Suddenly the screen went blank. I spun around to see Hotch just standing there with the remote in hand. Who did he think he was? This was my apartment, and therefore my TV.**

"**Hey!" I protested. I went to grab the controller from him, but he pulled it away. **

"**I think that's enough TV for today. You never used to waste your time with this sort of thing." He seemed disappointed.**

"**Well, I'm not like I used to be, Hotch." I snapped. I folded my arms in front of him. He gave me this look, which I can't really describe. He was obviously trying to figure me out. I held my glare a few seconds, but I backed off eventually. Hotch was clearly to type of guy to NEVER lose a staring contest. **

"**We want you to start to remember again, as soon as possible. Let's go do something that will help." He suggested after a moment.**

"**Okay, well, what would that be?" I said.**

"**Why don't we go to a performance tonight? You used to love classical music. We could go hear an orchestra." **

**I didn't know what an orchestra was, but I decided to give it a try. Hotch didn't seem like the type I or anyone would want to argue with. He was actually a little bit scary. So, I agreed. But that wouldn't be until supper time. What was I supposed to do until then?**

**As if he read my mind, Hotch told me exactly what we were going to do.**

"**I just checked your refrigerator. No wonder your so thin, you don't have any food. Why don't we go to the grocery store, and pick up a few things?" **

**I knew he wasn't actually asking my opinion on this idea, so I stood up and didn't say anything. He went and got both our coats from the front hall closet. He handed me mine, and instructed me to put it on. I wasn't so sure about this Hotch guy…**

*** * * * * * ***

**Hotch and I walked into the grocery store. It was crowded, there were lots of people there for a Friday morning. I guessed it was the weather. Yesterday had been freezing, but sunny. Now the sky had clouded over, and threatened to snow. **

**We paced the aisles, and Hotch let me push the cart until I knocked over a display of Kraft Dinner. Then he took it for a while. **

"**Here, go find these items. Grab a basket from over there." Hotch said. He scribbled down five things on a pad and tore the paper out for me. "I'll get the rest. Meet me at checkout four in fifteen minutes, got it?" I nodded, and he continued down the aisle. I read my list.**

**- Milk**

**- Apples**

**- Spaghetti sauce**

**- Yoghurt**

**-Eggs**

**That seemed pretty straight forward. I wasn't going to be able to screw this up, I was sure of it. I glanced up at the signs overhead. The dairy section of at the back of the store, so I headed there first, to cover milk and yoghurt. Once there, I looked at the milk. There were, like, thirty different kinds to choose from. Soy, 2%, Chocolate, Homogenized. Which one was I supposed to take?! **

**I looked around to see if there was a worker who could help me out. There weren't any. My guess was most of them were still by the front doors, restacking all the boxes of macaroni I'd knocked over upon our arrival. I opened the fridge door, and grabbed a thin, 2L jug of white milk, that said 1% on it. I put it in the basket, and then headed over to the yoghurt, hoping to have more luck this time. **

**Yoghurt was even MORE difficult. There were a MILLION flavours to choose from. Raspberry, vanilla, blueberry. Blueberry and vanilla mixed. Fat-free, sugar-free, lactose-free… I decided to just cover my eyes, and grab a random pack. It was called papaya. I shrugged and dropped it in my basket. **

**The eggs were right there, and luckily, there were pretty much just one kind. After that, I found the apples. I took two and put them in a bag. Then I went to the pasta section and picked up a jar of spaghetti sauce. **

**Done! I tried to remember which check out Hotch said he'd meet me at, but I couldn't. So, I walked slowly in front of all the checkouts and scanned the line ups. Then I saw him. I walked over, eager to show him how well I'd done. **

**The only thing Hotch said to me was "Why did you only get two apples?" **

**I looked at him. **

"**One for you, one for me." I explained. Was it really that difficult to understand? **

**He paused for a second, and then said the words, "Fair enough."**

**Back at my house, Hotch made lunch. I was allowed to help him.**

"**You know yesterday, I tried to make pancakes, because pancakes are probably my favourite. I don't actually know, but I imagine they are. But then I didn't know how to make them, so I put a bunch of stuff in the pan, and lit it on fire." I showed him the bandage on my arm.**

"**This happened. Then Derek put a bandage on it." **

"**I know." Hotch said. "That's why you have to ask before you do anything like that, understand?" I nodded. **

"**Since you didn't get to eat pancakes last night, we can make some now, if you want." He offered.**

**I grinned at that idea. I decided that I actually did like Hotch.**

**He let me stir the bowl of pancake batter, and add some of the ingredients after he was done measuring them. Then he let me flip one of the pancakes. It was pretty fun. **

**After we ate, Hotch wanted to play a game. So I decided to teach him how to play my own version of chess.**

"**And then this guy kills this guy!" I made the tower hit the horse off the table.**

"**Get it?" I asked. Hotch nodded.**

"**I think so. So these pawns can attack this king?" He asked, pushing four of his small pieces towards my side. I frowned.**

"**You won." I told him, disappointed. He smiled.**

"**Maybe when Gideon comes over he can teach you how you're really supposed to play chess. You used to be really good at it, you know." **

"**I did?" I remembered playing chess before, a long time ago. None of the pieces hit the other ones off the board.**

"**You know, I think I remember playing chess once." I said. Hotch looked surprised, and pleased.**

"**You do? That's great! Do you remember anything else?" **

**I tried, but I couldn't.**

"**No, sorry." I said. **

**Hotch said that it was alright. Then we put away the chess stuff, and started doing a puzzle. The whole time I kept thinking back to that memory. The ONLY memory I had of myself before, well, whatever it was, happened. Now my friends weren't the only ones who wanted me to start remembering. **

**--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

**A/N - Sorry about the metric measurements for any American readers. Thanks for all the great reviews everybody!**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8 -

Later that day, Reid had a doctors appointment. Apparently, he was doing very well physically, and the doctor said that memories coming back this soon meant a quick recovery from amnesia. After that, they went to the show.

Reid and Hotch got back late from the performance that night. As Hotch had hoped, Reid had a few more memories come up during the performance.

"I also remember going to an orchestra with a class of mine, when I was younger." Reid said, focussing on the memory, as Hotch put their jackets away.

"I was in grade…ten, I think. I was the youngest one there. We were sitting in the theatre, and I turned around and no one was paying attention but me. I couldn't understand why they weren't amazed. All those individual people, coming together, making one sound." Reid stopped, when he realised that Hotch was staring at him, amazed.

"That's all I remember." He said.

"That's okay. At least it's a start. The others will be pleased to hear that you're starting to recover. Now it's time to take your medicine." Hotch walked into the kitchen and Reid paused. He really didn't like taking medicine. He had to take three pills every night, and they were the kind that if they stayed on your tongue too long, they tasted really bad. Hotch held out his hand, urging Reid to take the pills. Reid stepped back.

"That's okay." Reid told him. "I feel fine now."

"That doesn't matter." Hotch explained. "The doctor said that you have to finish the prescription, regardless of how you feel. It's very important."

Reid hesitated. Hotch gave him one of those looks, and then Reid quickly took the medicine.

"Good." Hotch said, as Reid choked down the last one. "It's late. We should go to sleep." Reid was about to complain that he wanted to watch more Star Trek, but then he remembered earlier when the older agent and turned the TV off and said he couldn't watch any more.

"Okay." Reid agreed. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

Then Reid went into his room and waited, and waited. He waited for almost an hour. He had to keep himself from falling asleep once or twice. Then, finally, when it was close to midnight, he snuck back out into the living room.

Hotch was staying in the guest bedroom, which was good because when Derek had slept on the couch, it was hard for Reid to watch his show in peace. He popped a VHS into the player, the next episode from where he left off, and sat down on the couch. It was a good episode. It was almost over when a light in the kitchen tuned on. And then he heard someone speak.

"What do you think you're doing?"

Reid spun around. It was Hotch.

"N-nothing." Reid said.

"It's the middle of the night." Hotch said. He looked tired, but Reid thought maybe he hadn't fallen asleep yet after all. Hotch walked over, and took the tape out of the machine. Then he took all the rest of the star trek videos from the bookshelf.

"What are you doing?" Reid asked, annoyed.

"Hiding them, for the time being. Now go back to bed." Hotch instructed sternly. Reid sighed and shuffled his way back to his bedroom. He didn't realise how tired he had been, until he dropped down onto his bed. He was asleep almost immediately.

Hotch went back to the guest bedroom and looked around for some place to put the videos. He was tired, and not in any mood for this any more. He dropped them in his open briefcase and then pulled the flap over the top. He crawled back into bed, and closed his eyes.

*******

Reid tossed and turned in his bed. His dreams were vivid and horrifying. It was of a dark figure beating him mercilessly with blunt objects. He could feel the pain racking his body with every blow. The man left him bleeding and crying.

Reid woke up in a cold sweat. He was panting heavily. He turned to see the time on his alarm clock, which read 6:21. At least it was morning. He didn't want to have to fall back into the dream. It felt so real! So, he climbed out of bed. It was still dark out. He really wanted to watch those star trek movies. So, took the flashlight from his bedside table, and snuck out of his room.

Reid slowly pushed open Hotch's door. He slipped in and flicked on the flashlight. He shone it around the room, careful not to shine it directly on Hotch's face, for fear of waking him up. The beam of light fell on a brief case beside the closet. Reid glanced at Hotch, who was sleeping peacefully, and he made a dash for the bag. He crouched down beside it and pulled back the cover. He grinned. There they were. He reached in and took out the tapes. Reid could see the paper that they were blocking. He gasped in horror, and dropped the tapes.

Hotch stirred a bit in his sleep, but Reid managed to keep quiet. He flipped through the photos. They were of women, cut and beaten. Dead. He remembered his dreams. They had seemed so real, and pretty similar to what had happened to these women. Reid backed slowly out of the room, closing the door behind him.

"What the hell do I do know?" Reid asked himself, as he paced the hallway. He thought back to that time in the car, with Morgan. He decided that it was, in fact a gun that was attached to the man's hip. Reid knew this could only mean one thing. These people weren't his friends, they were the ones who hurt him originally. And maybe they were just waiting until the time was right, before doing it again. Maybe they would get it right, and kill him this time.

Reid glanced anxiously at Hotch's door, and then made a decision. He took his coat from the front hall closet, and Hotch's car keys from the kitchen counter. Then he opened the front door, and snuck out. He started moving towards the elevator.

A/N: So sorry it took so long to update. I, like many others, was struck down by the stupid H1N1 virus. Luckily I'm better now. Another short chapter, I know. Thanks again for all the great reviews!


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine - **

**Reid's POV**

**I didn't really remember how to drive, to tell the truth. But I didn't want to take any chances, so I just hopped into Hotch's car and stuck the keys in the ignition. It was so early, and I was still wearing my baggy pyjama pants. It was also freezing cold, even inside the car, but I didn't notice. My heart was pounding. I quickly analysed the symbols on the dashboard behind the wheel. I recalled that the car had to be put in reverse. I switches gears and backed out of the lot, then drove out of the car park as quickly as possible. **

**There were fewer cars on the road at this time of day, which was probably a good thing, for my safety and that of the drivers. Where was I going? No idea. I just kept my foot on the pedal and my eyes on the road.**

**After a few minutes I was driving past the building where we dropped off Penelope for work a couple days earlier. I couldn't believe that she was a bad guy, too. Just then I spotted Derek followed by a few of the others in the parking lot. I ducked my head and watched him as he moved from the door of the building to the door of his car in a few smooth strides. He reached into his pocket, pushing back the side of his jacket to grab his keys, and I saw his gun. **

**I panicked and accidentally slammed on the acceleration, jerking the car forward and nearly rear ending the guy in front of me. We were at a red light. I glanced back at the parking lot, where Morgan and the others had disappeared into the SUV. The headlights came on. The stoplight turned green. Go time. I didn't even wait for the car in front of my to move. I swerved into the other lane and sped up. I looked in the rear view mirror. The black SUV pulled onto the road and started following me! I made a right turn, and so did the black SUV. How did they know it was me? The light up ahead turned yellow, and I really wanted to make it before it turned red, so I pressed down as hard as I could, and the car lunged forward. Then, out of nowhere, there were sirens behind me. A police car, and the officer clearly wanted me to pull over. **

**Okay so I had two options here. Either I could slow down, and let him catch me. Then I might get a ticket, or maybe arrested. The black SUV was probably still behind me. If they caught me, they might hurt me! I decided that it was better if I just tried to lose them, and the cop. I started going down random side roads, and running stop signs and nearly hitting cars and pedestrians alike. I had to lose them.**

************

**Hotch opened his eyes, and the first thing he saw was the bedroom door. It was open. He glanced at his brief case and saw that the cover was pulled back. He shook his head at Reid's stubbornness. He knew he's find the tapes missing. He walked over to take a look. What he saw created an awful feeling in the pit of his stomach. The videos were on the ground, next to sheet after sheet of photos. Mangled bodies at crime scenes. Reid must've seen them. **

"**Reid!?" Hotch called, walking into the hallway. He glanced in Reid's room, and the living room and the kitchen, but the young agent was nowhere to be found. When he saw that Reid's coat was gone, he put the pieces together. Reid thought that Hotch had done those things to the victims in the pictures. He started looking for his car keys, and when he couldn't find them, he realised that Reid must've taken his car. He grabbed the phone and immediately called Gideon.**

"**Gideon." He said. "It's Hotch."**

"**What's wrong?" Gideon asked. "You sound upset."**

"**Reid… Reid ran away. He just took my car keys and left. I think he saw some crime scene photos and thought that we were the bad guys. I knew we should've told him about what we do!" **

"**Okay, so he took your car?" Gideon confirmed. **

"**Yeah." **

**Morgan looked over at Gideon.**

"**Hey. What's up?" He asked, momentarily letting his eyes leave the road.**

**Gideon hung up.**

"**I have to call and tell the detective we're going to be late."**

"**Why?" Prentiss asked, confused.**

"**Because that car up there belongs to Hotch. Only Hotch isn't the one driving it. Reid is." Gideon began dialling, and the others looked ahead, horrified. **

"**He can't drive yet!" Prentiss exclaimed.**

"**Hence the two police cruisers following him." Morgan replied, tiredly. **

* * *

**A/N - Hey everybody. So sorry about the long wait. Just finished exams, and have been pretty busy. I know it's a short chapter, but I'm almost done the story, so I'm keeping them short from now on. Thanks for all your review! **


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten -

Reid's POV -

I continued speeding down side streets, my heart and my mind racing. I was starting to remember things. Images, flashing before my eyes. My mom, Aaron Hotchner and the others, and someone I didn't recognise.

He was mean looking, and he was hurting me. It wasn't anyone that I remembered seeing with Morgan or Aaron or Penelope. He was hitting me, and it really hurt, and then suddenly there was a loud BANG. I remembered turning my head, and seeing Morgan with a gun up. There was smoke coming from it. Prentiss ran up to me, and was almost crying, and she kept asking me if I was okay. At the door, Gideon was on his phone, calling for an ambulance and he was talking very urgently. Then the other came over too, and started to help me.

I snapped out of it, and realised that I was still in the middle of a frantic car chase. The black SUV was within view. I could see the expressions on the passengers'' faces. They were worried and determined, not angry. I realised I had made a horrible mistake.

I decided I should stop the chase. They wouldn't hurt me. I slammed on the brakes, but there was ice on the road, and the back of car spun out in front. Then the whole thing slammed into a lamp post. My head whipped forwards and hit the steering wheel. Suddenly, I remembered everything.

********

Morgan stopped the car and jumped out, racing past the police officers, ignoring their commands to stop.

"He's FBI. And that's an FBI agent in the car." Gideon explained.

"So?" The officer argued. "He's still responsible for a fifteen minute car chase, endangering the lives of --"

"He wasn't supposed to be driving." Gideon interrupted, going on to explain what exactly the situation was.

Morgan torn open the driver's door. Reid's head as tilted back, and there was a cut on his forehead. His eyes were open and he was staring up at the ceiling.

"Reid!" Morgan said. He didn't know what else to say. "Are you alright?"

Reid glanced at his friend and sighed.

"I remember everything, man." He said. He tried to sit up, but moaned and fell back against the seat.

"Just stay there." Morgan told him. "We'll have some ambulances here in a bit."

"I'm gonna get fired." Reid said.

"Don't worry about that. This was all a big misunderstanding. You AREN'T going to be fired. Hotch will work everything out."

Reid looked up and smirked a bit.

"I thought you were going to kill me." He said

Morgan raised his eyebrows.

"That's why you stole Hotch's car and wouldn't stop." He concluded out loud.

Reid looked alarmed.

"This is Hotch's car!?" He moaned. "He really is going to kill me. I totalled it!"

Morgan laughed.

"You never were the best driver. You didn't have to be messed up in the head to have totalled his car."

The ambulance pulled up and the technicians came over, and Morgan stepped aside to let them do their thing. Despite having just been joking around with him, Morgan still felt his heart beat heavily, overwhelmed with relief knowing that Reid was okay.

The next day...

Hotch put his bags in the front entrance of Reid's apartment, and waited for the taxi to come and get him. Reid stood off to the side.

"Look Hotch, I'm really sorry about what I did to your car."

"It's alright. The insurance will cover it."

Reid bit his lip, feeling a bit ridiculous. He was still pretty embarrassed by what had happened over the past few days. Still, he felt he must ask the question that had been bothering him pretty much since he had regained his memory.

"When do you think I can come back to work?"

Hotch crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"Well, it's really up to the doctor. I know you want to come back, but chances are, he's going to want you to take it easy for awhile."

"Yes, but I am a doctor too. So my opinion must count for something at least." Reid stated.

"Nope." Hotch said. "Sorry."

Reid scowled, and outside the taxi beeped twice to let them know it was there.

"Come on, Hotch! I feel fine! Just let me come back tomorrow. I already had JJ send me the new case files. I won't be behind or anything! You guys need me!"

"You should've asked me before telling JJ to send you those files." Hotch told him, sternly. "And yes, we need you back as soon as possible. But I won't even consider it until the doctor says it's alright."

The taxi once again honked the horn, leaning on it impatiently.

"Get some rest, and don't bother calling and pretending the doctor said it was okay, because I've asked him to call me directly with his decision."

Reid rolled his eyes. Hotch picked up his bags and left.

* * *

A/N - I seem to have a bit of trouble with continuity sometimes. Sorry about that. Thanks for all the great review!


	11. Chapter 11

A/N - Just to clarify, the UNSUB who hurt Reid WAS killed, by Morgan. Sorry for any confusion! :) And I hope everyone had a happy Christmas!

* * *

Chapter Eleven -

"So, let's make sure we're all on the same page." Gideon said. The whole team (minus Reid) was gathered around a table in a police station in Oregon.

"We're looking for a man between the ages of 25 and 35. He wouldn't stick out in a crowd--"

"Between 25 and 35, and wouldn't stick out in a crowd." Morgan repeated softly into his hand. Gideon gave him a funny look.

"...But he will be unable to have normal relationships with people, especially women, or friends his own age." He continued.

"No normal relationships, especially with women of friends his own age." Morgan whispered into his hand. He looked up to see the whole team staring at him. He hid his hand under the table and smiled innocently back at them.

Hotch knew what was going on. He put his hands on his hips, and then walked over, and grabbed Morgan's phone.

"Reid!" He shouted into the mobile.

Back at his apartment in Virginia, Reid cringed. In front of him was a detailed profile that he had constructed himself using texts and pictures Morgan had sent of the victims and crime scenes. Now he was comparing his profile to the one the team had made up.

"Uh, hi, Hotch. How's it going?" He asked, meekly.

"Reid, I thought I made it clear that you were to rest at home until the doctor cleared you. Has Morgan been feeding you info all day?"

Morgan looked away to avoid Hotch's glare.

"Yes, but don't get mad at him, I asked him to."

"I understand you're anxious to return to work, but you shouldn't be subject to the trauma of this job so soon after what you've experienced."

"But Hotch, you don't understand! It's traumatising just SITTING here! I think I'm going to go insane! Last night I read the dictionary. I actually read it. The whole thing! I haven't done that since the 11th grade!"

Hotch raised an eyebrow, but wasn't overly surprised by the young genius weird antics. He'd known him long enough to expect almost any thing.

"Well, when did the doctor say you could return?"

"In ten days, but --"

"No buts, Reid. If that's what he said, then that's what's going to happen. I'm sorry." Hotch told him firmly.

"Wait! What if we make a little bet?" Reid challenged. He was really desperate to return to work as soon as possible. Though this was a long shot. Hotch wasn't the gambling type.

"That would be highly inappropriate, Reid. You know I can't condone --"

"Wait, wait. Hear me out!" Reid begged.

"It wouldn't just be a bet. It would also be a good way to gage whether or not I am ready to come back. We use as much detail as possible in our own separate profiles. And then, when you guys nail the UNSUB, we see whose profile was closest. Whoever was closer, wins."

Hotch was silent, as he seemed to be contemplating Reid's offer.

"What are the stakes?" He asked after a moment. The rest of the team exchanged looks of surprise and amusement. Hotch, gambling? This was something they had to see.

"If I win, you'll see that I'm ready to come back, and I get to come on the next case with you guys. If I lose, I wait out the whole ten days, and I won't get Morgan to send me any pictures."

Hotch considered this carefully.

"What if our profiles are the same?" He asked. They were all equally good at their jobs, and so this was very likely.

"Whoever presents it first wins."

"If you lose, you also have to do two extra loads of paper work." Hotch added, his expression every bit as serious as it usually is. It was almost like he didn't want to admit to himself that this was breaking the rules a bit.

"Deal." Reid answered, grinning. "Tell Morgan that he has to send me everything. And it HAS to be everything or else it's not fair."

"I will. Oh and another thing. If Garcia tells me that your were at the bureau trying to get information before it reaches us, you automatically lose."

"Fair enough. I'll be in touch. May the best profiler win!"

"I intend to." Hotch said. His co-workers were shocked at his overly competitive attitude. Reid hung up and Hotch turned to his team.

"This profile has to be perfect." He said, looking each of then in the eye like a team captain giving a pep talk before a big game.

"If I go down, we all go down. Morgan, go talk to the first victim's husband again. Grill him. I want to know if there is anything he's leaving out. Prentiss, go with Gideon and review all the tip line recordings. The most insignificant detail, I want written down and analysed."

When his team just stared back at him, he clapped his hands and shouted,

"Double-time people! Let's go! We can't let Reid win!"

The team jumped up and scurried off to their assigned locations.

Hotch looked at himself in the mirror and straightened his tie. His 'game face' stared right back. Part of him wondered is he'd be in trouble with Strauss for this. The other part of him said "Screw her, this is war." And that part won, for once. Hotch exited the conference room in search of something, anything, that could aid his investigation.

* * *

A/N - Okay, so again, a fairly short chapter. And maybe Hotch is a bit out of character in this one, but I like to picture him loosening his tie and engaging in a bit of friendly competition once in a while. Please R/R! Thank you!


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve -

Reid, with all of his free time, spent every second of the next two days working on his profile. Every time Morgan sent him new information he was document it, compared it to similarities from past cases and it became a piece in his profile puzzle. Finally, he was done!

"Perfect." He said, admiring his work. He took out his cell and dialled Hotch's number. After a couple rings, a very groggy voice came over the other end.

"Aaron Hotchner." He mumbled.

"Hotch, it's me!"

"Reid! What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I just called to let you know that I'm done! How are you guys coming along?" Reid asked happily.

"Reid," Hotch growled. "It's 4:30 in the morning in Portland right now."

"Hehe, oops. Sorry. Still, I thought I'd remind you that if our profiles are too similar, I get extra points for having it done first."

Hotch sat up in his bed.

"Send your profile to Garcia. I don't want you making any changes too it after claiming to be finished first. We're hoping to present our profile later this morning, we'll send it to Garcia after that."

"Sounds good to me. Oh and Hotch? You're going down." Reid said with a smirk.

"Don't count on it." Hotch replied, dead serious. He hung up and then turned on his bedside light. He got up and sat down at his desk, looking through their almost-finished profile, making slight changes here and there. It wasn't that he didn't want Reid to come back, because he did. However, he wanted him well enough to work. And also... Aaron Hotchner could not stand to lose a bet.

**********

Six hours later -

Hotch leaned against a table, yawning.

"You look awful." Prentiss commented.

"Reid called at 4:30 this morning to tell me he'd finished his profile. After that, I was already awake, so I figured I'd stay up and make a few minor modifications to our profile, just to be on the safe side." Hotch told her, gingerly sipping his steaming coffee.

"Wow." Prentiss said. "You two are really competitive, aren't you?"

"I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about." Hotch said, smoothly. "I was simply perfecting the profile of a dangerous offender, in order to bring him to justice more efficiently."

Prentiss smiled.

"You keep telling yourself that, Hotch."

When the police chief had gathered all their officers, the team began to describe exactly who they might be looking for.

- Between the ages of 25 and 35.

- Because he is unable to normal relationships, he most likely has a job that allows him to be on his own, without much interaction with others.

- Has a means of transportation - perhaps a company car.

- Very intelligent

- Has a job that pays well.

There were a few other details, which Hotch and the others relayed over to the police officers, before sending them out to try and catch the guy.

"Now we just have to wait until we find the UNSUB." Hotch said.

"That could take a while." Morgan told him.

"Morgan's right." Gideon agreed. "Look at the profile. UNSUBS with high levels of intelligence are generally much more difficult to find."

"Yes, but the MO tells us that he will kill again, probably within the next couple days. I just want to get this bastard off the streets." Hotch said.

Morgan smirked at him.

"And you want to prove to Reid that you're just as smart as he is."

"I don't have anything to prove to Reid." Hotch said, indignantly. "Our job is to bring in the bad guys. And while Reid is an important member of the team, I think it's important to show him that the world isn't going to end if he takes a few days off."

"The kid lives for work." Morgan reminded him.

"I know." Hotch said. "And I want to teach him that there is more to life than what goes on in the BAU. Haley and Jack were the best things that have ever happened to me. And if he spends every single day of his life in the office, he'll never get a chance to have what I had. I screwed it up for myself. I want him to learn from my mistakes."

The team looked back at their leader, astounded at the deep, caring statement. They were speechless.

"Plus, I really HATE losing a bet." Hotch added, and he pressed past them, to go send their profile to Garcia.

***********

The next day -

"We got him!" Morgan said, victoriously, as the team watched the police handcuff their UNSUB, whose name they now knew what Jacob Simms.

"Now we get to see who lost the bet!" JJ announced. The whole team huddled into the briefing room and Hotch opened up his laptop to show Garcia on live video feed.

"Garcia, call up Reid. We just booked our UNSUB." Hotch said. A few minutes later, a second feed appeared next to Garcia's. It was of Reid, anxiously leaning in toward the camera.

"I just received the UNSUB's personal information." She said. "I'll start at the top. Hotch, you wrote aged between 25 and 35. So did Reid. UNSUB's age? 31. One point each."

Prentiss stepped up to the white board, and made a T-chart, putting a point under both Hotch and Reid's names.

"Hotch, you said the UNSUB grew up with a physically abusive father, and Reid, you said the UNSUB grew up with a father who sexually abused him... both are correct, sad as that is."

Prentiss gave each side another point. The comparing went on for a few more points, and by the end of it, Hotch's team was ahead by one.

"Reid, it seems that you have another point here, that Hotch didn't even bother to talk about."

"I do?" Reid confirmed.

"What is it?" Hotch asked, practically on the edge of his seat.

"Well, I don't know how he knew this, but here, Reid wrote that the UNSUB would have... brown hair." Garcia pressed a picture of the UNSUB against the webcam to show them. He did, indeed, have brown hair.

"Reid, how could you possibly know that?" Hotch demanded.

"You cheated." Morgan accused, in pretend disgust.

"No, I didn't! I swear!" Reid said, his voice getting squeaky the way it does when he gets put on the spot.

"He didn't cheat." Garcia said. "He's just a genius."

Reid smiled, but still looked super confused.

"Well, I guess since Reid submitted his profile first, that means that he gets to come back to work! Sorry Hotchy." Garcia said.

"Don't call me Hotchy. And Reid, on Monday, you'd better have a logical explanation for knowing the UNSUB's hair colour." With that, Hotch closed the laptop, leaving Garcia and Reid alone.

"Garcia... I never wrote that the UNSUB would have brown hair. It's essentially impossible to determine the hair colour of any given perpetrator when it's irrelevant to the case like that."

"I know, baby boy. That's why I wrote it for you after I was sent to UNSUB's information."

"But that's cheating." Reid said.

"Well, yes. Technically it is cheating. But Morgan only asked you if you cheated, not me. I missed you so much while you were gone. I wanted you here to fill my daily quota for random facts and useless information."

"Thanks Garcia." Reid said, smiling and blushing slightly. "It means a lot that you would lie to Hotch like that for me."

"Any time, Reid. I'll see you on Monday!" Garcia blew him a kiss, and then signed out. Reid grinned to himself.

*********

Monday -

"I don't understand." Hotch said.

"I knew that the UNSUB would try and blend in in a crowd, and one of the best ways to do that, is by making yourself look like everyone else. And lots of people, most people, have brown hair." Reid explained. He had rehearsed his lie earlier that morning.

"I still don't understand. That isn't enough to go on."

"Oh well. What does it matter now? I'm back, Hotch. Because I won."

"Well, I don't want you to start guessing, on the slim chance that you will be right."

"Don't worry Hotch. I won't." Reid stood up to leave Hotch's office, but Hotch stopped him.

"Garcia cheated for you, didn't she." It was a statement. Not a question.

Reid cringed. Busted.

"Yeah, but --"

"It's okay, Reid. I can see you're ready to be back with us. But you understand that it's okay to take time off, right? We give you vacation time for a reason."

"I know, Hotch. But I'd rather be working. I'm stressed out when I'm doing anything else." Reid with a small smile.

"I understand that, but... Reid, you're 26. It might be a good idea to, you know... do things? I mean outside the office. Talk to Morgan, for example. He's out clubbing every night."

Reid looked back at his boss, and blinked absently.

Hotch sighed.

"Okay, just promise me you'll take a holiday this year? At least one?"

"Alright Hotch. If it's that important to you. Sheesh." Reid said. And then he left.

Hotch leaned back in his chair. That last comment reminded him of the previous week, of something that a 6 year old might say. It also reminded him that Reid was still, pretty much a kid. And like a kid, he shouldn't be exposed to so much sorrow and horror all the time. No one should be, regardless of age.

Hotch looked at the picture of his wife and baby that was on his desk. How he wished he could be with them more often. He looked up at the clock and saw that there were still seven hours left until he was allowed to go home, and see them. But he couldn't wait that long.

He grabbed his coat, and on his way out, reminded Reid to make sure he was caught up on all his paper work.

"Yes sir!" Reid said, thrilled to be back, even if it meant doing paperwork.

Hotch smiled to himself as he left the building. It was good have Reid back. Because even in the midst of all the horror, he still always found a way to brighten up everyone's day.

* * *

A/N - Alright, well, that's it! Sorry to end on a kind of serious note. And I apologise also for the fact that I totally strayed from the original plot line! You guys know how it is! Plz R/R and thank you for being so awesome!


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